Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

MUSIC

Swati Tirunal He was born in the royal house of Kerala which was renowned for its learning and pi- ety. The rajas of Travancore were great devo- tees of Lord Padmanabha. His uncle Balrama Varma was a very learned and popular king, who died issueless. He was the author of Balarama Bharatam, a highly respected work. The prince was named Swati Tirunal Rama Varma. At the age of 16, he was anointed the Maharaja of Travancore. At a very young age he mastered nearly 13 languages including Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Ma- rathi, Hindi and English. He was good at composing poetry, painting, sculpture and other arts. However he is best known for his compositions and patronage of musicians. He composed a number of poetic works including Padmanabha Satakam, Kuchela pakhyanam and Ajamila pakhyanam. In the Karnatak style he has a number of kritis, varnams, padams and javalis to his credit. His genius did not restrict itself to South Indian music, but he has to his credit dhrupads, khayals, thumris and so on. Besides being a musician he was one of the most generous patrons of art of his day and in his court there were musicians and scholars of both south and north. The famous ones were Ravi Varman Tampi, Koli Tampuran, Punjab Suleman, Vadivelu (violinist and disciple of Muthuswami Dikshitar) and his brothers, Kannayya Bhagavatar and many others. It is said that Tyagaraja was highly appreciative of Swati Tirunal's compositions. Swati Tirunal Rama Varma passed away on Dec. 25,1846. Tallapakkam Annamacharya (15th C.) Born to Kumaranarayana and Laksh- mamma of Tallapakkam in the Cuddapah district of Andhra. He seems to have been a prodigy, as he had composed songs even be- fore the age of 16. In accordance with a com- mand from Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati in a dream, he left for the holy shrine of the Seven Hills (Tirupati) and lived here singing the praises of Venkatesa. Here he was initiated into yoga by a saint by the name of Ghana Vishnu and following his advice, Annama came back to his village and settled down to the life of a householder composing songs on his favourite Deity. When Seluva Narasimha, the Vijayanagar King, demanded that Annamacharya com- pose a song eulogising him, Annama refused

saying that he could not sing of anyone but Lord, The furious Narasimha had the mu- sician bound in chains. Annamacharya began singing of the greatness of Lord Venkates- wara and the chains loosened and fell off by themselves. Seluva Narasimha in a mood of penitence released him. When his children grew up, Annamacharya left Tallapakkam and came to live in Tirupati where later he died. His genius is astounding. His devotional ecstasy and profound philosophy have in- spired many later composers even Tyagaraja. He was a prolific composer, only 14,000 of his songs have survived. His three works are Srin- gara Manjari, Sringara Sankirtana and Adhyatma Sankirtana. All the three are in Telugu and addressed to the Lord of the Seven Hills. Bhadrachala Ramadas (17th C.) His simple folkish songs were an inspira- tion to Thyagaraja. His songs are still alive. His early name was Gopanna. Even from childhood he was singing the name of Rama. He was married and had a son. Though he was not wealthy he was generous. He threw his house open to the poor and needy and gave all that he had. He was appointed Tahasildar at Bhadrachalam by the ruler of Golkonda. It had a famous temple of Rama. Gopanna collected funds by donations and used money from the state treasury to rebuild the temple. He was imprisoned by the Nawab for nearly 12 years on charges of embezzlement. In a dream the Nawab was told by Lord Rama that Gopanna was innocent. The Nawab released Gopanna and gave him a handsome pension for life. is both technically and aesthetically of a high order. He not only created songs with words and music of his own, but wrote poems for others’ music and gave music to others’ poems. The composition types include dhrupad, thumri and tappa though the majority were just songs. He drew extensively from Bengali folk tunes such as sari, baul and keerthan. Of ragas he used many of the common ones, the frequent being Bhairavi, Khamaj, Pilu, Mal- har and Bihag. He created new combinations of ragas like Asavari-Bhairavi, Darbari-Todi- Bhairavi, Bhairav-Bhairavi, Multani-Bhim- palasi and so on. New talas like sasthi (2+4), navami (5+4 or 3+2+2+2), jhampak (3+2+3+2) and rupakada (3+2+3+2) were his contributions. Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath's music ( Rabindra Sangeet )

A mystic of the same type as Sri Chaitanya and Sri Ramakrishna, Rabindranath visualised the creation as a Lover playing with his Beloved, The world and this life was a song of union and separation, of joy and pain, of victory and defeat. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar His forefathers were a family of Brahmins in the village, Palus, in Maharashtra. Vishnu Digambar was born in 1872 at Kurundwad, the principal town of an Indian 'native' state. His father was a Keertankar (singer of Keer- tan). He lost the use of his eyes early in his life due to an accident. The Raja of Miraj who realised the musical talents of the child put him under the guidance of Balakrishna Bua Ichalkaranjikar. Paluskar studied with him till about 1896. He then left Miraj and after visit- ing many places reached Baroda. He was invited to sing at the court of the Maharaja. The Maharani was pleased with the young man and presented him with lavish gifts.

Vishnu Digambar Paluskar Composer, Ram Dhun, "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram' which was sung by Narayana Moreshwara Khare at the head of the famous Dandi March led by Gandhijiin 1930. In 1924 he started Sri Ram Nam Adar Ashram in Nasik, here he moved in 1924. He passed away in 1931 in Miraj. To Paluskar music was a path to God realization and could not be divorced from moral commitments. He brought in a strict living and behaviour in his school. His own conduct was exemplary and he saw to it that his students were of blameless character. Towards the end of his- life his time was devoted almost entirely to religious music and his end also came amidst the singing of Ram dhun.